Marcellus baseball coach forced to resign: Neighbors West Today

View full sizeMorganne M. Atutis / The Post-Standard Marcellus High School's boys baseball team celebrates their 11-4 win over Clinton High School in the Class B Championship game at the Alliance Bank Stadium last season.

Pete Birmingham, who led the Class B Marcellus High School Mustangs to sectional and state regional baseball championships last season, said he was forced to resign after a disagreement with Marcellus athletics director Brad Dates.

Three assistant varsity coaches at the school — Jim Alford, Mike Bome and Larry Craft — also have resigned in support of Birmingham.

"I was forced out. Resign or be fired, I was told," said Birmingham, who was the coach at Marcellus for nine years. His teams compiled a 51-20 record over the last three seasons, and the current team is 1-3.

According to Birmingham, the flap with the AD started because Birmingham elevated freshmen from the junior varsity and was playing them ahead of juniors and seniors, which upset the parents of the upperclassmen.

When Dates tried to schedule a 1 p.m. Friday meeting between himself, Birmingham and principal John Durkee to discuss the matter, and Birmingham couldn't attend because of a business commitment, Dates told him to resign or he would be fired, according to Birmingham.

Dates would not discuss the matter, saying it was a "personnel matter that would not be played out in the newspaper." He said there were other issues that led to the resignation.

Marcellus superintendent Craig Tice, who has a son on the team, also would not address the issue, other than saying he was told by the AD that Birmingham had resigned and did not show up for practice on Friday or a game on Saturday.

One parent who still has a son on the team said it was embarrassing for upperclassmen to sit on the bench while freshmen were in the starting lineup. That parent asked not to be identified, fearing retribution for the son.

Two upperclassmen have reportedly left the team, and one parent has complained about Birmingham's communication skills.

"I've got kids who have bled for me for six years now," said Birmingham, who did have upperclassmen on the team who played. "I think we owe it to them to do everything we can to try to win now and let them go out with a smile on their face. We wanted to put on the field the team we thought gave us the best chance to win today."

The coach said he was criticized last summer when he promoted two freshmen to the varsity summer team, but ultimately got permission from the administration to do so. During preseason practices in March, Birmingham promoted a third freshman to the varsity.

When the team went to Florida for its annual spring trip, one player was injured and lost for the season. Three others were suspended for behavioral issues. That prompted Birmingham to promote another player from the junior varsity.

"The athletics director told me two different times that we weren't going to be very good this year anyway, so why not put the freshmen back on the JV team and play the upperclassmen, which would stop the phone calls from disgruntled parents," Birmingham said.

Three freshmen started in Marcellus' 3-2 win against Skaneateles last Tuesday. Four underclassmen played in a 3-2 loss to Westhill on Thursday. With Birmingham gone, no freshmen started in Saturday's 7-6 loss to Bishop Grimes.